


He woke second

by FangirlFromTheUnderworld



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU slightly, F/M, Feels, House of Hades, Hurt Annabeth, Hurt Percy, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Percy/Nico if you squint, Post-Tartarus (Percy Jackson), Tartarus, Whump!Annabeth, Whump!Percy, after Tartarus, percy jackson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 12:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8055526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangirlFromTheUnderworld/pseuds/FangirlFromTheUnderworld
Summary: Annabeth and Percy stumble out of Tartarus bruised and bloody and muddy. They collapsed on the ground, half dead but still together.





	He woke second

When Annabeth and Percy stumbled out of Tartarus, they were half dead. 

The rest of the seven were fighting valiantly, sweat pouring and monsters disintegrating everywhere. The elevator doors were pulled open by trembling hands and two forms toppled out, a girl with matted blonde hair and a boy with sallow bruised skin. Frank was the first to notice, his heart leapt and he sprinted to where the couple had collapsed, breathing like they had just run a marathon. 

The first thing Frank noticed was how thin they were. Percy’s arms were like matchsticks, his tattered shirt hid a ribcage that was probably visible from a distance. Annabeth’s hair which was once golden framed her sunken cheeks, her shirt was ripped up the back to reveal the ridges of her spine. The second thing Frank noticed was that Percy was conscious, and Annabeth was not. 

As he skidded to his knees beside them, pressing his fingers to Annabeth’s grimy neck in search of a pulse, Percy stirred. His hand waved in the air, pen uncapped and in sword form. Something fell out of his mouth as he opened it, a dribble of blood that ran down his chin in a slow current. He muttered something unintelligible and dropped the sword threateningly in Frank’s general direction, narrowly missing Annabeth’s arm. Then his hand dropped with a thud to the ground. 

Frank murmured a few comforting words to Percy, who was barely holding onto consciousness. He found Annabeth’s pulse which was comfortingly steady, though her breathing was not. Scratches and bruises littered her body, innumerable and bleeding, painful and swollen. But none of them seemed fatal, so he did nothing more than look at them before he turned away. 

Moving onto Percy, Frank found his pulse to be much less steady that Annabeth’s. His breathing was erratic, his eyelids twitched. When Frank touched his arm Percy jerked away before settling back with a barely audible groan. He didn’t have as many cuts as Annabeth, though he seemed, if possible even thinner. His skin was practically yellow, papery in the dim cavern light. While he didn’t have as many cuts Percy had dark bunches of bruises on his neck and arms and presumably on his torso and legs, dark purple and green and blue. 

Frank deemed most of the bruises not fatal, though Percy’s breathing was not getting steadier. Frank glanced back at Annabeth, concern wrinkling his brow. Annabeth’s breath hitched and she moaned and shifted, clawing out in front of her for something. Frank watched worriedly before Annabeth suddenly jerked around still unaware and grabbed Percy’s arm, which jerked hard but settled in her grip. Annabeth stopped moving clutching Percy’s arm with her twig-like hands. Frank looked at them a moment longer before glancing back at the others. 

 

Fighting was slowing down, monsters were being defeated and people were winding down. Nico was slashing through some empousa with his black blade, Jason was swooping about beheading things from above while also helping Hazel and Piper with some of the bigger monsters. Leo was nowhere to be seen. 

Frank watched Hazel almost get pulverized by a flying chunk of rock before he made the decision to go back into battle. Gingerly, he shifted Annabeth into his arms, the wet blood from her face transferring to his clothes. She weighed practically nothing, and Frank carried her limp form over to a niche in the craggy cavern wall, lowering her to the ground and positioning her in a comfortable position. Then he ran back for Percy, picking his up just as carefully and being still more alarmed at how light his friend was, how knobby his hips and shoulders seemed. As he walked Percy began to struggle weakly to get out of Frank’s arms, muttering but unintelligible. 

Frank didn’t let Percy go, just held on all the same until he reached Annabeth and settled Percy next to her. He hesitated a moment before he moved Annabeth's hand to Percy’s side, so if she got scared she would know he was there. 

Then he moved back into the fight. 

 

_________________________

 

Frank and Jason carried them back to the Argo II, all of them were solom in the presence of the survivors, their friends. Though they had won the fight there was no celebration, there was no sound but Annabeth’s moans. Percy was silent but not unmoving. He hung limp in Jason’s arms, Annabeth was nestled on Frank’s chest, but Percy shied away whenever Jason would hold him closer, squirming slightly and leaning away. Jason gave up on trying, But concerned glances were frequently thrown Percy’s way throughout the journey. 

Nico was trying hard not to, but some of the seven noticed as he stared at Percy (and Annabeth) strickenly, paler than usual with a grimer silence that he normally had. Now Percy had bags under his eyes to rival his own, dark and puffy like pockets. Hazel walked alongside Nico, and held his hand lightly as they went along.

Piper was also silent, walking along with Leo whose absence of speech had been most noticeable. The fountain of comments and quips that normally flew out of him was extinguished, and he marched along staring at the back of Annabeth’s hand which swung away from her body mesmerizing with Frank’s footfalls. 

 

___________________________

 

In the ship they were given their usual rooms, with a surplus of pillows and blankets. Piper and Hazel gave Annabeth a bath while Frank and Leo did Percy, washing the blood and mud out of his hair. Annabeth’s hair was so thickly congealed with blood Piper had to wash it four times, shampooing and conditioning carefully. 

While they were both in terrible condition, it seemed Percy was subtly worse than Annabeth. While Annabeth had pockets under her eyes too, there were considerably less purple that Percy’s. While Annabeth was skinny, Percy was skeletal. Annabeth was cut up, but manageable, the abrasions were painful but would heal fairly quickly. While he was bruised like he had been run over by a monster truck, and that would have been reasonably quick to heal, Percy’s other injuries were worse. Percy’s worst cut was on his arm, one Frank had missed under all the blood. It ran from his shoulder to his wrist, infected and wide. They had discovered it in the bath, which prompted them to quickly dry him off and dress the wound, afraid of injuring it further. Piper tried her hand at stitches, with dark thick thread. If Leo were talking like he normally would, he would have made a joke about Frankenstein. 

But the point was, it seemed like though they were in hell, though they had faced monsters that had died long ago and struggled to overcome challenges no one should ever come across, Percy had kept Annabeth safe. Staying awake for days while Annabeth rested, giving her the food they found and going hungry for longer. Knowing Annabeth, she was probably not aware of this while it was happening. Or at least, this was what Piper said as she and Hazel tucked Annabeth into her kingdom of pillows. Hazel nodded, brushing Annabeth’s coarse hair away from her face. 

 

_____________________

 

It was three days before one of them woke up. Annabeth’s eyes fluttered open before her boyfriend’s, dazed and confused. Leo was in her room, rearranging her pillows in a second hand habit given to him by Hazel. He looked from the white pillow to Annabeth’s face and received a shock to see those eyes staring up at him for the first time in weeks. 

“Hey there.” He said cautiously, not sure of what to do. Annabeth simply looked at him sleepily. “I think I’m going to get one of the others….” Leo hesitated, really unsure of what to do. “Are you okay? You’re not in pain…?” Annabeth yawned, still not fully awake, though her eyes seemed to be waking up. 

Leo rushed from the room, worried that Annabeth might go back to being comatose before he managed to track down someone else. He literally ran into Nico around a corner, hissing at him hurriedly when he scowled, “Annabeth woke up.” 

Nico looked shocked, before saying, “So why are you telling me?” 

“Do something about it! I don’t know!”

“Well go tell someone else! I don’t know what to do. I’ll go keep an eye on her though…” Nico said, looking nervous. Leo thumped him on the back and ran off to find someone else. 

 

When Leo returned with Hazel Piper and Frank, Annabeth was looking at Nico with more awareness than before, but more pain in her eyes then before too. Nico looked even more nervous, fumbling with the scabbard for his sword and standing awkwardly beside Annabeth’s bed. When the others entered Annabeth scanned them quickly like the she was searching for someone. Apparently she didn’t find whoever it was because she started wriggling a little bit in her blanket cocoon, mumbling something louder and louder like she was trying to make her mouth work and failing. 

The others tried to calm her down to no avail before Piper sat down at the chair beside Annabeth’s head and gently murmured “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re fine, you’re safe.” She laced her words with Charmspeak, and Annabeth calmed a little, still whispering under her breath and wearing a more and more worried expression as she gazed at Piper. “Are you trying to say something?” Piper coaxed Annabeth, “just sound it out, I’ll see if I can help you.”

Annabeth seemed to take a moment to gather her thoughts before forcing a few syllables out of her mouth. “Percy.” She looked frustrated as she worked her mouth, unable to articulate speech like normal. “Where is Per-cy.” 

Hazel immeadeatly grabbed the glass of water she had brought with her and held it to Annabeth’s mouth. Annabeth drank greedily until the glass was drained, which took maybe two seconds. Then she turned back to Piper with the same expression of worry.

Piper smiled comfortingly down at her. “Percy’s fine. He’s in another room, he hasn’t woken up yet. He’s fine.” Though the Charmspeak wasn’t working as well as he would have hoped on Annabeth. 

“Okay? He-’s n-not hurt?” Annabeth forced the words out, looking panicky. 

“He’s not hurt.” Piper lied, though this time he Inflicted much more Charmspeak into her words. Annabeth looked relived. And exhausted. 

“Do you think you feel up to eating something?” Hazel asked from the other side of the bed, ever prepared with a bowl of chicken noodle soup broth and and a spoon. Annabeth looked at the bowl apprehensively before nodding. She didn’t make an effort to lift her head, she suddenly looked bone tired. Hazel and Piper propped her up on pillows while Frank told her how good it was to see her awake and talking. 

Annabeth made it three quarters through the bowl before she shut her mouth looking queasy. Hazel didn’t push, just set the bowl and spoon on the floor and began to talk to Annabeth soothingly, telling her of trivial things that had happened while she and Percy were gone. Occasionally Annabeth would mutter a syllable, but mainly she just listened, fighting to keep her drooping eyelids open. Finally she lost the battle and her eyes dropped shut, her breathing deep. The others evacuated her room, leaving the door open behind them. 

“How did you even know Annabeth would be up for soup?” Frank asked Hazel, “She literally just woke up. We didn’t even know if she would be able to stay awake that long!” 

Hazel smiled, “She’s Annabeth. She’s tough. I just trusted in that.” 

________________________

Percy woke up much later, almost midnight of that day. He didn’t wake up as silently as Annabeth. 

His room was next to Annabeth’s, which was next to nico’s temporary one. The door was never locked or closed. 

Nico was woken by a pitiful moan from a few doors down, a cross between a pained groan and a sob. He lay there for a few minutes before the sound happened again, before he realized what he was hearing and jumped out of bed. 

He ran down the hall in his black t shirt and flannel pj pants, and into Percy’s room. 

Percy was awake, sort of. His eyes were open, sea green and luminous in his severely malnourished face. His hair was in his face, limp and devoid of it’s usual sheek blackness. He was staring at the ceiling, tears falling freely from his lashes as he groaned, trapped in a nightmare. Nico walked the few short feet to Percy’s bed, feeling sick as he wondered what he should do. He felt like he should calm Percy down before calling the others, even though there was probably no one who was less qualified to do it than he. 

Percy let out another sob, eyes flickering with fear at whatever he was seeing. Nico sat by his bed on the chair, scooting it up closer and grabbing the matchstick hand lying curled in a fist on the sheets. The arm was wrapped in bandages hiding the long gash that ran all the way down it. 

Percy jerked suddenly as their fingers touched, and Nico also gave a start. Percy began shaking violently and Nico felt nauseous as he snatched his hand back. Percy didn’t calm down, only shook harder, muttering words and staring at the ceiling. Afraid of making it worse, Nico pondered hurriedly what to do. 

He surveyed Percy’s face, wet, shiny with tears. He needed to make those tears go away. He needed to comfort Percy and pull him out of whatever nightmare he was caught in the grasp of. And he wasn’t the best at anything involving comfort, but he felt like he should try for Percy. 

The young man who had saved him from the Gryffin all those years ago, comforting Nico and telling him it was going to be alright, was now in front of him shaking with fear. He looked like a boy huddled in the sheets, not like the Hero Of Olympus, not like Nico’s saviour and longtime crush, but like a scared child who needed to be reassured. 

Nico reached out and grasped Percy’s hand again, and when the shaking boy jerked away Nico held on. Percy didn’t try to loosen Nico’s grasp any further, and Nico felt like he was one step in the right direction. Brushing the hair out of Percy’s wet face, Nico whispered “Shhhhhh. It’s okay. It’s okay.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. Percy didn’t respond other than his sobs hitching. 

“It’s okay. You’re okay. Just-just sleep. You’re okay.” Nico whispered, and Percy fell silent as Nico started rubbing Percy’s hand soothingly. The tears still fell, but they were unaccompanied by noise. Nico kept on like this for a few more minutes, watching as Percy calmed down and feeling accomplished, like he had finally done something good. 

“Shhhh. Just go to sleep.” Nico watched as awareness started seeping into Percy’s eyes. He wasn’t going to sleep, he was waking up. Suddenly Nico was nervous again. He continued rubbing Percy’s arm. 

Percy’s eyes suddenly flicked from the ceiling to the black haired pajama clad boy in front of him. Nico gazed back at him, very nervous. He wondered if he should let go of Percy’s hand, though the older boy didn’t seem to notice it. The tears were drying on his face. 

Percy stared at him for a while longer, silence stretching out but not uncomfortably. Nico sat and waited for Percy to make his move, staring back at him unflinchingly. 

Percy’s lips parted, dry and cracked. His bruised face contorted with effort as he struggled to find a word. Finally, Percy said “Nico?” his voice cracked halfway through the word, rusty with disuse. Nico wished he could give him some water like Hazel had Annabeth. 

Nico nodded a little. “Yeah. It’s me.” He said softly. “You’re supposed to be asleep.” 

Percy looked confused. Probably about why Nico was there and not Hazel or Frank or someone Percy actually cared about. But instead Percy forced out; “But...Was in Tar-us.” He stumbled on the last word, looking a little scared. “I-still in there? Why-you….here?” Percy looked a little panicked and he looked around the room quickly. “Ann-beth?Where?” 

Nico suddenly understood, and he squeezed Percy’s hand before regretting it and letting go of his hand before Percy told him to. “You’re not in there anymore, it’s okay. You guys made it out. Annabeth’s just in the other room, it’s really late. She’s sleeping. You’re not in Tartarus.” He tried to sound comforting. 

Percy flinched a little when Nico said ‘Tartarus’, and Nico instantly felt terrible for mentioning it, remembering how horrible it was when he ‘visited’, and how eager he was to hear the name at the time. He apologized immediately, “Oh Gods Percy I’m so sorry I - should’ve realized. Sorry. I know it was horrible. Sorry, if you want I’ll get someone else to- someone better-” He should not be the one doing this, he should not be the one doing this.

Percy shook his head near violently, grimacing a little and looking remorseful. “You’re-good. S’all good.” Percy yawned, looking much much more relaxed, and Nico felt relived. “No one-rather have.” Well, Percy obviously wasn’t in his right mind. Even though he had been crying 10 minutes ago, he was regaining his humour. Nico was tempted to ask him what he had been dreaming about. But he wasn’t that insensitive.

Nico wasn’t sure what to say to that. They sat in silence for so long he thought Percy had fallen asleep before he heard the voice again. “Been a while. ‘Asn’t it?” Percy’s ragged voice asked. 

Nico looked up curiously. “What do you mean?” 

“Never-talk much, do we?” Percy was regaining his speech remarkably fast. Nico struggled for an answer to that. 

“Yeah, I guess. Just busy.” Nico answered unsteadily. Percy sighed. 

“ ‘Ow is ‘everyone?” He asked. 

“Uh, pretty good. Yeah. Hazel’s learned some more magic, she’s figuring that out pretty fast. Manipulating the mist.” He watched Percy, who was watching the ceiling again. He wanted to hold Percy’s hand again, if only to feel like he was doing something right. “Uh, Piper and Jason are great. So is Leo, and Frank. I’ve been good.” What else could he say? 

Percy nodded absently, he seemed almost wide awake, though he kept yawning. 

“‘S good.” He murmured. 

“How are you?” Nico asked off the top of his head. “How are you feeling?” 

Percy grimaced, wrinkling his nose. “Well, ‘ow do I look?” He said simply. 

Nico smiled a little. There were worse answers. “How’s Annabeth?” Percy asked. 

“Pretty….good. She can’t make it to your room. Actually, I don’t think either of you are going to be up and walking anytime soon. You’re both in pretty...rough condition.” At Percy’s worried look, Nico added, “But you’re definitely worse than Annabeth.” He wasn’t sure if that was even any comfort, but it felt like something that would be okay to say. Percy smiled slightly, looking away from the wall and back at Nico. 

“We’re….we’re all really glad you guys are back. We missed you. I missed you.” Then Nico blushed horribly and tried to cover- “I mean like- your presence and the-fighting skills-” 

Percy smiled wider, just grabbing Nico’s hand in his own and squeezing it. Nico’s heart leapt as Percy’s eyes twinkled with amusement one last time before he fell asleep with his bony fingers wrapped around Nico’s.

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE comment if you like it and why you like it! Kudos are VERY welcome!


End file.
